* Exported from MasterCook *
About the Amish
Recipe By : The Best of Amish Cooking --- Phyllis Pellman Good
Serving Size : 1 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories :
Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
***** NONE *****
The Amish have captured the interest of the modern world because
of their quaint clothing, homes and buggies, their striking quilts,
their lusty food. These people prefer to be regarded as a community of
faith who deliberately seek to live in a way that honors God and the
creation. They purposely refuse many conveniences to better foster their
life together; they choose to live close to the land in an effort to
care for their families and the earth.
WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE?
The Amish are a Christian group who trace their beginnings to the
time of the Protestant Reformation in 16th century Europe. In 1525, a
group of believers parted company with the established state church for
a variety of reasons. Among them was the conviction that one must
voluntarily become a follower of Christ, and that that deliberate decision
will be reflected in all of one's life. Therefore, baptism must symbolize
that choice. The movement was nicknamed "Anabaptis," meaning re-baptism,
since the believers wanted to be baptized again as adults.
Eventually the group were called Mennonites after Menno Simons,
one of their leaders who had formerly been a Roman Catholic priest. Over
the years these people grew into a strong faith community, concerned
with the nurture and discipline of each other.
Basic to their beliefs was a conviction that if one was a faithful
follower of Christ's, one's behavior would clearly distinguish one from
the larger world. These people saw themselves as separated unto God
because of their values of love, forgiveness and peace. Because they
were misunderstood and because they appeared to be a threat to the
established church and government, the people were often persecuted and
many became refugees.
In 1693, a magnetic young Mennonite leader believed that the church
was losing some of its purity and that it was beginning to compromise
with the world. And so he and a group who agreed with him left the
Mennonites and formed a separate fellowship. They were called Amish,
after their leader, Jacob Amman. Today the Amish identify themselves as
the most conservative group of Mennonites.
The movement which Amman began reached into Switzerland, Alsace
and the Palatinate area of Germany. As early as 1727, Amish families
began to resettle in North America where they found farmland, space to
live as neighbors to each other, and a climate that nurtured their
growth as a church family with a distinctive lifestyle.
The tiny communities struggled to survive in the early years. As
was true for other pioneers, the Amish invested most of their time and
energy in clearing the land, establishing their homesteads and getting
along with the Native Americans. Most of those who arrived from the
1720s through the mid-1760s settled in eastern Pennsylvania, yet they
did not live in sequestered communities. Frequently they had neighbors
who were not Amish. With that came the opportunity for interchange with
folks from the larger world. Nor was the Amish church as defined in
terms of distinctive practices nor as organized under recognized leaders
as it became following the American Revolution. That event crystallized
many of the convictions these people held and united them in their
refusal to join the War, since they were (and remain today) conscientious
objectors.
The Amish intend to give their primary attention and energy to
being faithful disciples of the teachings of Jesus Christ. They believe
they can do that best as members of a community who together share that
desire. Consequently, they have tried to withstand acculturation into
the "worldly" society surrounding them. They have remained close to the
land, preferring to farm if at all possible. They believe hard work is
honorable, that church and family provide one's primary identity. Their
ideal in life is not to pursue careers that lead to prosperity and
prestige, but to become responsible and contributing members to their
faith community.
The Amish have changed throughout their nearly 300 years of history.
Their intent, however, is to be deliberate about change, to manage it
carefully so that it does not erode their convictions. The Amish
continue to grow. Today they live in 20 states and one Canadian province,
totaling about 100,000 adults and children. There are twice as many
Amish persons today as there were only 20 years ago. They are a living
and dynamic people.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

WhatistheAmishFoodTraditionintheNewWorld....

* Exported from MasterCook *
WHAT IS THE AMISH FOOD TRADITION IN THE NEW WORLD?
Recipe By : The Best of Amish Cooking -- Phyllis Pellman Good
Serving Size : 1 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories :
Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
***** NONE *****
Because they are highly disciplined, the Amish are often perceived
as being grim, austere folks who live as ascetics. They do live ordered
lives and, in general, are restrained in their outward expression. But
in two particular areas they have exercised color -- in their quilts
and in their food! In both areas they distinguished themselves only
after becoming established in North America. By the mid-1850s and during
the next several decades a food tradition evolved that included an
amalgam of dishes from a variety of sources: they brought their own
cultural taste preferences from Switzerland and Germany; that affected
what they copied and adapted from the diets of their English and Native
American neighbors; the geography and climate in the area of the New
World where they made their homes also shaped their eating. In those
ways, however, they were little different from the other German folk
who settled in William Penn's colony.
How, then, did the Amish develop and retain a food tradition that
is identifiable? With their sustained rural base, the Amish have
continued a productive relationship with their gardens and fields. With
their large extended families they have not only been able to convey
the love of certain dishes to their children, but they have also been
able to show their daughters how to make those specialties, many of
which are learned best by "feel" than by reading a cookbook. In addition,
their active community life supports the continuation of a food tradition
-- at gathered times, favorite dishes appear, undergirding the event,
whether it be a school picnic, a funeral, or sisters' day.
Several principles prevail among these people with as much strength
now as they did when the first Amish built their homestead in
Pennsylvania: to waste is to destroy God's gift. To be slack, work-wise,
is to be disrespectful of time and resources. To go hungry is to ignore
the bounty of the earth (furthermore, there is no reason that eating
should not be a pleasure!).
Many myths exist about these people and their food. Separated as
the Amish are from the larger world in their dress and transportation
choices, they are not immune to the many food options in the grocery
stores of their communities. They shop, and so they pick up packaged
cereal, boxes of fruit-flavored gelatin and cans of concentrated soup.
Although tuna noodle casserole and chili con carne turn up on the tables
of Amish homes, and chocolate chip cookies and lunch meats are packed
into the lunch boxes of Amish school children, cornmeal mush and
chicken pot pie are still favorites. Because the Amish are a living
group, despite their regard for tradition, their menus continue to
change. Their foods are influenced by their neighbors and the recipes
they find on boxes containing packaged foods or in the pages of farm
magazines and local newspapers.
The Amish are hard workers whose efforts on the land have been
rewarded with fruitful fields and gardens. And so they have eaten well.
In fact, their land has been so productive that Amish cooks have
undertaken massive "pickling" operations, preserving the excess from
their gardens in sweet and sour syrups.
Desserts are eaten daily in most Amish homes. But multiple desserts
at one meal are generally eaten only when there is company. Thus the
story of manifold pastries available at every meal has only a shade of
truth in it.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -